Critics condemned the Mail for 'trial by media' and derided the paper's defence that the five named youths were free to clear their names by suing for libel. It is hardly an even playing field. There is no legal aid for libel - an elementary fact of which the Mail's deputy editor seemed unaware in his interview on the BBC's World at One yesterday. How do five uneducated school drop-outs take on a newspaper as powerful as the Mail? More serious, the paper carried out little investigation of its own nor unearthed any significant new facts. Its indictment was based largely on police belief. But the police are not always right. That is the purpose of a trial: to ensure the prosecution's evidence is fully tested.
Cynics can also point to a very belated conversion by the Mail. Until yesterday, the Mail's coverage of the shameful killing had been somewhat peripheral. The murder was only mentioned in three stories in the last year before the inquest, only six the previous year, and just 20 since the murder was committed. Moreover, compare yesterday's leader with the paper's editorial shortly after the murder which, while hoping the guilty would be caught, was quick to sneer at the supporters campaigning for the Lawrence family: 'What is not helpful is the gusto with which the more militant of the anti-racist organisations have hijacked this human tragedy. The black African leader Nelson Mandela was enlisted, while on a visit here, to give publicity to the case. Racism is abominable . . . but is there not also something contemptible about professional protesters who capitalise on grief to fuel confrontation?'
Whatever the motive - and let us assume sincerity - yesterday's edition was a powerful and bold stroke. If newspapers are rightly praised for campaigning on behalf of people wrongly convicted by the criminal justice system, then surely they deserve support for pursuing the other category of miscarriage of justice: people wrongly found innocent. When the Mail is ready to have a go at racists, it is time to cheer. Four of the five named killers are known to be racists - they were surreptitiously videoed by the police. Of course, being a racist does not mean you are a killer. That is why the Mail exercise would be even more impressive if they were ready to forgo claiming any costs in a libel trial. That would provide a more even playing field - and another opportunity for the five youths to answer some awkward questions.